Week 22: Psalm 34:17

The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

Psalms 34:17-22 (New American Standard Bible)

 

Many apologies promise movers for being late on the promise this week!  Had a pretty trying beginning to the week already!  Fitting that we are going to be moving on Psalm 34:17 this week though, because it's all about crying out to God when we are in need.  I love The Message version of this passage:

Is anyone crying for help?  God is listening, ready to rescue you.  If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there; if you're kicked in the gut, he'll help you catch your breath.  Disciples so often get into trouble; still, God is there every time.  He's your bodyguard, shielding every bone; not even a finger gets broken.  The wicked commit slow suicide; they waste their lives hating the good.  God pays for each slave's freedom; no one who runs to him loses out.

There's not a whole lot of explaining that needs to be done here.  Are you in trouble?  Are you hurting?  Is your heart broken or your spirit crushed?  THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE A BAD CHRISTIAN!!!  It means you're doing things right.  Satan doesn't attack those already under his power.  In his sermon this week, our Pastor, Scott Estep, said something beautifully on this and I'm going to do my best to paraphrase him: the reason we need Jesus Christ to be our comforter is because we are going to be put in some very uncomfortable situations because of Him.

Christ doesn't call us to cake-walk lives.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer has one of my favorite quotes of all time, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."  So now you're thinking, "Your pretty sick Jeremy, that's just how I want to start out my week."  It's truth though.

Christ calls us to suffer for Him.  He calls us to uncomfortable situations.  He calls us to all of the pain, rejection and humiliation that He experienced to and on the cross.  He doesn't exclude us from any of it.

BUT HE ALSO MAKES IT BEARABLE.

So do you need help today?  Are you struggling this week?  It doesn't matter what it is.  Christ died so that you would be taken care of in His perfection.  After His resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit to us to be our comforter, to guide us, to carry us through all of the struggles - NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE - so that we can stand through it all and find Jesus on the other side.

God doesn't promise us an easy life when we choose to follow Jesus.  He does PROMISE to make our suffering easily bearable though when we give it all to Jesus and allow Him to carry us through it.  So move on it this week.  Give your hurts to Jesus.  Let Him protect you.  Let Him carry you.  He is ALWAYS faithful to His Word!



Week 21: 2 Corinthians 13:3-6

since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.

2 Corinthians 13:3-6

Hey there promise movers!  Hope you all had a great week moving with us on the promises of God.  If there is something cool that God did in your life through these promises, or just anything else that He has been faithful in (we know that He is faithful in all He does) please let us know about it!  Nothing makes me happier than reading praise reports on the goodness of God!  We can even post them to this blog so that everyone can get in on the fun.  It is just so awesome that we are able to bring glory to God through our testimony...just another one of the multitude of gifts He has given to us.

This week we are going to focus on the power that we have in God.  2 Corinthians 12:9 is probably a more familiar verse to some of you, so we are going to start there to get an idea of what we are required to do in order to cash in on this promise.  2 Corinthians 12:7-10 is when Paul talks about the "thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan" sent to torment him.  He prays to God three times to remove this thorn, and God answers Paul's prayer; just not in the way he was expecting.  God says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."  Ridiculous concept, huh?  We cash in on God's promise of power by allowing ourselves to become weak.  It's just not logical.  That's because it's theological!

I really love how Paul puts this in verse 7, that this thorn was given to him "to keep me from exalting myself."  That is why we need to become weak.  God doesn't do power struggles.  He IS the power.  You have the free will to recognize it or not.  He will not fight you over it though.  You want to keep your power over battling a certain addiction or controlling what you do at work? He is going to let you.  If that's what you want though, you aren't going to have His power.  I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to let God's power do the work in my life.

Now let's turn to 2 Corinthians 13:3-6.  I love Paul's swagger that comes through in this section.  It's a Holy Spirit swagger.  Jesus Christ is not weak!  Let's get that straight right now.  That's my one beef with The Bible Series on the History channel.  Jesus is portrayed as this weakling flipping tables over in the synagogue.  Yes, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God.  NEVER forget though, He is also the Lion of Judah.  Our God has teeth!

That's what Paul is talking about here.  Yes, Jesus was hung, in weakness, on a cross.  We too have that same weakness in us, that we died to our sins in the same manner that Christ did.  Jesus Christ didn't stay "weak" though.  He didn't stay in the grave.  I read this quote in a fabulous book by Henry and Melvin Blackaby called Experiencing the Resurrection,  and it still gives me goosebumps every time I read it.

Jesus said that those who remain in their sin will surely die (John 8:24). So He died in our place and went to the grave - but with the full confidence that the power of the Father was sufficient.  And indeed, the Father went after Him and reached down into the darkness and laid hold of His Son.  With all the power of Satan and his demons straining to secure the grave, the righteous hand of the Father found its way.  And the power of the almighty God ripped His Son from the eternal chains meant for you and me.  The resurrection power pulled Him from a pit of darkness back into the kingdom of light.

Praise be to God!  Jesus now reigns over the kingdom of light and has complete dominion over all principalities and powers.  Talk about power!  It all belongs to Jesus.  And the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is now in His hands.  Anytime a person cries out to Jesus in repentance and pleads for forgiveness of sin, He hears.  He has been there; He knows the way to rescue your soul. 

I don't know if I really have to write anything else!  Jesus Christ was the perfect example for us.  He was not, is not, has never been, and will never be weak. Yet He became weak to the point of the cross so that His Almighty Father could make Him strong.  That is the example He asks us to follow.  That we become weak to whatever weakness He calls us to, because in doing so we become strong.

So Paul urges us, "test yourselves to see if you are in the faith."  Are you bearing good fruit?  TEST YOURSELF!  You can't and won't have the power of Christ unless you are in Him.  Like we said last week, it's all about your position in Christ.  If you are in the True Vine, you will bear good fruit.  If you aren't bearing good fruit, you need to take a look at your position.

So get in position this week.  Go all in with the True Vine that is Jesus Christ.  Bear good fruit and walk in the power of the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End, the Great I AM!  Let His righteous hand rip you from the clutches of Satan just as He did 2,000 years ago with His own Son.

MOVE IN THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION!

Praise Report

Hey fellow movers!  I had mentioned in the promise from last week that I had a lot of really cool stuff happening in my life, but didn't have time to completely explain it all at the moment.  Well I have time now!  God is so outstandingly GREAT!  Now even if I had just been diagnosed with some life threatening disease and lost everything I have, this would still be the truth.  God is exactly who He is regardless of our circumstances.  There are just those times when the blessings fall and you can't help but look up to the heavens and tell Him, "Really God?  You know that I don't deserve any of this and you still just keep heaping it on!"  The past few weeks have been like this for me.

As some of you know I have been really struggling with my career path lately.  I had a teaching job I was interviewing for last year that I thought was a sure thing and it completely fell through. It was a very confusing time of me asking God what He wanted me to do and God not really answering.

I was very blessed to be able to work a full time construction job with a great friend, but I knew that construction wasn't what I was supposed to do for the rest of my life.  I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would just tell me what He wanted me to do.  If it was construction, I would be the best construction worker in the world.  If He called me to go back to school, I'd study my tail off to be the best.  If He wanted me to go into ministry, I was ready for that too.

Instead of answers though, I just got silence.

I pushed on though.  I clung tighter than ever to God's promises.  I knew that He had a plan for me, and as frustrating as it was to not be let in on what that plan was, I had resolved to let His plan take shape and just be prepared when it finally started moving.

May 6 was when it started moving.  The exact same day that I wrote the promise we moved on from Romans 8.  Exactly four hours after I posted it actually.  Funny that the Romans 8 promise was all about victory in Christ, because it started off a string of huge victories in my life...all because Jesus has already won the victory.

Four hours after the post I got a phone call from the Principal at Lakota High School to inform me that they wanted me to be their new High School English teacher.  Huge victory!  It gets better though.  They wanted me to start that Friday!  They were even willing to forgo the substitute teacher pay to go ahead and start me on my salary schedule!  Huge victory!  That's not something that just happens all the time.  That's something that happens when we trust in God to keep His promises to us!

On top of all this, there have been a multitude of supplemental positions I have been offered, both at the High School and outside of it.  I have literally gone from wondering what I was going to do with my life, to having to be very selective with what I want to do because God has blessed me with so many potential paths to choose from.  I told some of my friends that I feel like I am drowning in God's blessings right now.  It's a great feeling after going through the desert.

Now let me get one thing straight...I am not; in any way, shape or form; tooting my own horn here.  "Well," in my most snotty, arrogant voice, "the only reason this all happened is because I am so great and never gave up on God.  I never even doubted for a minute that He was going to do something totally awesome for me because I'm totally awesome."  Not how it is at all.

I don't think a day went by that I wasn't frustrated that God wasn't answering me.  I had questions all the time.  I had thoughts that I constantly had to fight back that God had forgotten about me.  I was convinced that my blessings weren't going to come on this side of heaven.  This isn't about how awesome I am.  I didn't do anything to deserve any of this!  Jesus did it all!  He is the One that deserves all of the blessings that I got.  And I am the One that deserves all of the punishment that He got.

That's the way these promises work though.  They are incredibly lopsided in our favor.  All we have to do is cling to Him who first loved us.  I read something great in one of my devotionals this morning that is simply too good not to post.  It was a devotion from Joseph Prince called, Destined to Reign.  It talks about John 15:5, how we are branches in the vine, who is Christ.  In it Prince says that the devil "wants you to focus on your condition instead of your position in Christ."  I absolutely love that!

We get so caught up in the moment of our condition that we forget the most important factor - our position in Christ.  He has already won the victory, and just like John 15:5 promises, if we abide in Him, we position ourselves to bear good fruit for Him.  There is no other option.  When we abide in Him, when we cling to Jesus Christ, the only thing we can do is bear good fruit...the only thing we can do is be victorious!

So focus on your position...not your condition.  If you make sure you are positioned in the True Vine, you cannot be anything but victorious!  He did it for me; He will do it for you.  Just cling to those promises!

Week 20: 1 John 5:5

"Who is the one who overcome the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

1 John 5:5

 

Hello there promise movers!  Pretty simple promise this week, but sometimes in the kingdom of God, the simplest things are the most powerful.  Would you like to overcome the world?  I sure would!  According to this promise, the only thing we have to do to have victory over the world is believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!

 

Verse 4 tells us that "whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith."  It doesn't matter what part of the world you're looking for victory over; sickness, fatigue, lusts, addictions, relationships, finances, career - faith in Jesus Christ grants you victory over every single aspect of the world.  Not just slight victories either, but complete and total victory!

 

So exercise your faith this week.  If things are getting hard and it's looking like the world is starting to get the upper hand, cling to this promise, along with the countless other promises that God gives us in His Word.  YOU ARE VICTORIOUS OVER THE WORLD!  Not because of anything that you did or didn't do, but because you have put your faith, hope and love in the One who first conquered the world: Jesus Christ!

 

That's it!  Told you it was pretty simple.  Now go and walk in victory my friends!  Move on this AWESOME promise the Lord has granted us!

Week 19: 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

Hey fellow promise movers!  Man do I have some outstanding praises to report.  I will have to get to it a little later in the week though.  I have been so blessed by our Mighty God that I just don't have any time to get into it right now!!

This promise is fairly simple, so I won't make you read a whole lot of my blabbing(sighs of relief going up around the world).  I absolutely love this verse.  We could make this the verse that this group is all about.  If God isn't faithful, we are wasting our time moving on His promises.  If He isn't faithful and only keeps some or even most of His promises, this group would be completely hit or miss.

The only reason we are able to move on these promises week in and week out - and expect results - is because HE is faithful.  I love the description of Jesus we read from Revelations 19:11, "...and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True..."

Here's the only catch.  You can believe God is faithful all you want.  You can believe it more than anyone else in the entire world.  You CANNOT see the promise fulfilled though until you MOVE!  James 1:22 tells us, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."  I can believe every single word that Jesus said.  I can believe it with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.  But what good am I if I never DO what He says?  What kind of love is that?

So this is a huge promise.  What is God's promise to you?  It could be anything.  A child, a financial need, a job, salvation for yourself, a loved one?  Whatever His promise is to you - He is faithful.  Like Revelations says...it's one of His names...what He goes by.  He is literally called, Faithful and True.  He will bring it to pass!

So how do we cash in on this promise?  We move from being hearers of the Word to doers of the word.  We'll keep it contained to 1 Thessalonians 5 as a great place to start for this week.  Starting in verse 16 we get some great advice as to how we can actively live for Christ.

1. Rejoice always - yes, even when you don't feel like rejoicing.
2. pray without ceasing - yes, even if it makes you look crazy.
3. in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus - emphasis on the words IN EVERYTHING
4. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances - God might tell you to do something you don't want to.  He might be leading you somewhere you don't want to go.  Don't stop the Spirit with your reservations.  He's God...He's got you covered!
5. Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. - be very cautious what you let have a hold in your life.  Like the song says, "Oh, be careful little eyes what you see/ears what you hear/mouth what you say/feet where you go"

There is even a little additional promise added on in verse 23, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."  In all honesty, that's the better of the two promises.  When we do what Christ says, He sanctifies us ENTIRELY!  As flawed as we are, we are no longer because Jesus Christ has promised us His sanctification...He has transferred His holiness to us.  And how do we know we can trust Him?  Because "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass"!

What are you waiting for?  Let's MOVE!

Week 18: Romans 8 (Yup the whole thing!)

Hey fellow movers!

I must apologize for making you read all of Romans 8 (not a sincere apology, you should cherish diving into God's word) but I just couldn't pick one verse to focus in on!  It's like those old Ruffles potato chip commercials, "Betcha can't eat just one."  I just can't pick one promise from this chapter in Romans.

This week is all about victory.  We might spend a few weeks on this topic, because victory happens to be something that God promises us a lot of!  I am very thankful for that!  I won't go through every verse of Romans 8 here - you are all more than capable of reading it on your own - but I will highlight a few of the verses that really moved me.

First, the very beginning of Romans 8, verses 1 and 2.  "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."  Your end of the bargain = you must be in Christ Jesus.  His end = He will free you from sin and death.  We win on that deal.  It's not just freedom from the act of sin and things that lead to death either.  It's freedom from the entire mindset of sin and death.

I can testify to this personally with my addiction to tobacco products.  When I finally gave that garbage to Jesus and let Him have His way with it, He didn't just get rid of the tobacco from my life, He got rid of the entire mind control it had over me.  The urges, the desires all went out the window.  Verse 5 says, "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."  So it's not just freedom from the sin that God is offering here, it's freedom from the entire lifestyle of sin!

Verse 11 might be my favorite in the chapter because, to be honest, I don't think there is any better promise out there than this: "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."  Hillsong does a song called "You Are Here" in which the bridge says, "The same power that conquered the grave lives in me."

You wanna talk about something that will give you a little Holy Spirit swagger!  The Spirit that raised Christ from death to life is in YOU!  The Spirit that performed all of those miracles, that healed all of those people, that defeated all of those demons IS IN YOU!!  I don't even need to go on.  We'll just stop the promises group right here (kidding...still tune in next week)!

I love verses 15-17.  Paul describes the relationship that we have been called into with God.  Not a relationship of slaves to a master, driven by fear; but instead of children and heirs to our Abba, Father, Daddy.

Verse 18 - "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."  Without God, this life is as good as it gets.  With Him though, this life is a bad as it gets.  The suffering we experience on this earth won't even be a blip on the radar when we finally enter fully into God's Holy Presence.

Verse 26-27 - "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."  We have the promise of our own personal prayer "helper" in the Holy Spirit.  Like a prayer instruction manual.  The Holy Spirit knows the mind and will of God and will pray for us, through us, through groanings too deep for words.

Verse 28 - "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."  Great promise, just remember, it has to be HIS purpose.

And then we hit the pièce de résistance, in Romans 8:31-39 (I'm going to freely go bananas bolding my favorites):

What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?  Who will bring a charge against God's elect?  God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns?  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, of nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."  BUT IN ALL THESE THINGS WE OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US.  For I am convinced that neither death, not life, nor angel, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ok, so maybe I should have just bolded the whole thing.  You get the point though.  It is impossible not to be completely on fire when you grasp the victory God has PROMISED US!  This isn't a 50/50 chance you'll have victory.  Not 60/40, 90/10 or 99.999999999999999999999999999/0.000000000000000000000001.  It's God's promise.  It's as good as gold.  It's DONE!  Just like when the whole universe was created, He spoke and it happened.  God's Word is not idle.  It MOVES!!!  So what are we waiting for?  Let's move with it!

Be victorious brothers and sisters in Christ!

Week 17: Isaiah 30:18-26

 

Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, "Be gone!" Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

Isaiah 30:18-26

 

 

I absolutely love this passage.  I apologize that it's a little long, but there is just too much goodness to ignore!  I don't think there are any of us out there who would be willing to say we don't want the direction of the Lord.  I am at one of those times in my life where I need His direction so badly.  So many life altering decisions that I have coming up, I really need God to guide my steps.  I think we all need to get to a point where this desire of God's direction becomes a necessity in everything we do, even in our daily routines.

That is what first drew me to this passage though.  Verse 21, "Your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left."  I have actually had this verse written up on a little white board on our refrigerator at home for about a year.  Sadly, as too many things God bring to my attention, it has been up there so long that I had forgotten about it.  Just another decoration that's been hanging on the wall so long it now gets overlooked.

God brought it back to me this week though; and then some.  I saw that verse on the fridge and prayed for God to guide me.  Then I decided that I would go back and look up some of the different translations of that verse.  What I found was the rest of the promise!  It completely blew me away!  The promise could really go all the way to the end of chapter 30, but I decided to cut it off at verse 26.

I love how this promise starts off though.  God, the Creator of the universe, LONGS to be gracious to us!  God, the Lord of EVERYTHING, is literally waiting on His throne to have compassion...ON US!  And the only thing that is asked of us in return?  That we long for Him.

When we long for God, He longs for us.  Even when we don't, He still longs for us, He still pursues us.  He longs to be gracious to us; He waits to have compassion on us...so what are we waiting for?  He can't come to us with His promises until we come to Him.  We can't receive His gift until we ask for it.  Once we start to long for Him - the way He longs for us - that is when His promises start coming alive.  So let's look at the promises we have in store for us in this verse alone:

1. You will weep no longer
2. He will be gracious to your cry, hear it, and answer it
3. He will no longer hide himself from you - your eyes will see your Teacher
4. You will hear His voice and He will guide you
5. All idols, addictions, impurities - anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God - will be defiled in His presence.  He will give you the strength to tell these things "Be gone!" (How powerful is that?!?)
6. He will give you rain for the seed you sow, food from that seed and it will be rich and plenteous...in other words, God will bless your socks right off!
7. I love verse 26 too...your nights will be as bright as day, no more darkness!  Your days will be seven times brighter than they were before you came to Jesus!  He will bind you up and heal you!

God doesn't ask anything from us, but that we long for Him the way He longs for us.  Come to Him and He will come to you.  I was joking with Jake Kohring this morning because we were trying to isolate one of these verses to move on, but there was just too much goodness!  I made the comment that we should just move on the whole book of Isaiah this week.  There is so much truth in that though. 

We are moving on promises week by week.  One (ish) promise a week.  But when you come to Jesus - when you long for Him the way He longs for you, every single promise in the Bible becomes YOURS!  Even if you aren't real sure about all of this, come seek Jesus anyway.  When you find Him, and you will find Him, it will be impossible not to fall head over heels for His grace and mercy.

So let's move this week friends!  Let's pursue God with the same tenacity, desire, longing and love that He has been so faithful to pursue us with.  Let's long for God the way He longs for us, and let Him open these promises in our lives!

Week 15: 1 Timothy 4:16

Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

1 Timothy 4:16

Hello fellow movers!  Wow, I just have to say, WOW!  What a Holy Spirit shot of adrenalin I received yesterday!  Dayspring church in Bowling Green, Ohio was very blessed to have Jim Wilkes preach yesterday.  And when I say preach, I mean PREACH!  For those of you following this blog who don't attend Dayspring, I will make sure to upload the video of the sermon as soon as it's available so you can watch it.  If you don't want to wait for me, check Dayspring's Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/dayspringbg

Now on to the promise!

The promise this week comes from 1 Timothy 4:16.  The main reason I bring up the message yesterday from Jim Wilkes is because he talked a lot about radical obedience to God. The sermon series at Dayspring the past two weeks and moving forward is called "Unstoppable", and that is exactly what this promise is all about; making our message unstoppable.

Our most important task as Christ followers is to make disciples of all of the nations.  We need to, to quote Mr. Wilkes, "export people from the kingdom of darkness and import them into the Kingdom of Light".  So what if I were to tell you there is a way to make sure you are "unstoppable" at this?  Would you be interested?  I sure would be!

In this verse from 1 Timothy, Paul gives us a promise from God that "will ensure salvation both for yourself and those who hear you."  What an absolutely incredible promise!

"So meat and potatoes here, Jeremy." You say, "What do I have to do to save everyone who hears my message?"  Well I am so glad you asked!  Paul tells us in verses 9-15 what we must do:

It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

So here's the breakdown:

1. Put your hope in Jesus Christ, the Living God and Savior of all men,
2. Believe and teach the Gospel of said Christ.
3. Make sure that your life is an example of Christ Who lives in you - in your speech, conduct, love faith and purity.
4. Give attention - time, effort - to public reading of Scripture, to urging on your brothers and sisters in Christ and to teaching.
5. Make sure to cultivate your spiritual gift the Lord has blessed you with.
6. And finally...take pains in these things!  Don't just treat this as a check-list.  "Yeah, I guess I kinda did this one" is not going to cut it!  Paul says to "be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all."  You have to live it, breathe it, eat it, sleep it!

This is the stuff that makes your message unstoppable!  This is the stuff that ensures salvation...not just for you, but for all who hear about Jesus Christ!  This is the stuff that changes the world!  Jesus is the One who changed our world!

Let's go change the world promise movers!  Let's show the world the God who changed ours!

Week 14: Proverbs 16:3 & Mark 11:24

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

Proverbs 16:3

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."

Mark 11:24

Hello fellow promise movers!  So I had an extremely difficult time deciding on which promise to move on for this week (as you can probably tell by the title of this post).  I was really stuck between these two passages from Proverbs and Mark.  Then this morning while I was joining in prayer with my friends Jake and Matt (continuing our promise from week 12 in Matthew 18), Matt suggested doing both of them.  His exact text read: "Sounds like they parallel.  Go with both...ha!  Doesn't commit to God assume some kind of prayer anyway?"

Absolutely it does!  If you and I are going to commit our plans to the Lord, we better be covering those things in prayer!  So we're going to break tradition (Jesus hated tradition that got in the way anyway, right?) and go with a little double promise this week.

And what a promise they are!  Commit whatever you do to God and you have guaranteed success!  Now there's a promise!  A lot of exclamation points here!  I apologize!  I'm excited!  Seriously though, does it get any better than that?  We live in a world that measures everything by how "successful" it is and God is telling you that He has a way for guaranteed success...just give it to Him and let Him do the work!  It almost too easy!

The same could be said with the verse from Mark.  "All I have to do is ask and believe and whatever I pray is as good as mine?"  Pretty much.  It's a lot harder than it should be though.  The problem comes in the believing.  We live in a world that lives by the quote, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is."  That is not the case with Jesus though.

I could sit here all day and write out Bible verses and famous theologians who agree that all you have to do is pray, ask and believe - to commit your works to the Lord - and it will be done.  If I did that though, you'd spend all your time reading this and not living out this outstanding promise from God! 

So stop reading and start doing!  There's only one way to find out if God's going to keep His promise.  So what are you waiting for?  Commit everything you  do to the Lord and He will bless your sock off and make you successful.  Pray, ask and BELIEVE WITHOUT A DOUBT and God promises it will be done.  Yes, it is absolutely too good to be true, but so is the fact that a perfect Savior would leave His throne to die for us and give us eternal life.  You believe that, so why doubt any of the promises He has made to you through His word?

MOVE!

Week 13: John 12:26

"If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him."

John 12:26

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!  A little late I know...but Christ is still risen, so technically every day is Easter!  I hope you all had a blessed time moving on the promise from last week.  I want to take a quick moment before I get into the new promise to remind everyone of the old promises.  Not trying to be a jerk or anything...it's more of a reminder because I have really struggled with it.  The point of moving on these promises is so that it makes changes in us permanently.

I realized this a few weeks ago, but I have not been doing very well at abiding in Christ the way I did when those were the promises we were moving on.  So just a friendly reminder...don't stop moving on the old promises!  Keep abiding, keep humbling, keep meditating, keep finding people to pray with.

Now on to the new promise!  I read a book a few years ago called Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby.  The book completely changed my life...I would highly suggest giving it a read if you haven't yet. 

One of the things they talked about in the book was how we approach going about God's work in our lives.  So many people, and I am one of them, constantly pray that God send them a task.  The Blackabys offered a new way to look at it, and John 12:26 mimics that.  Instead of praying that God send a laundry list of tasks for us to accomplish, we should instead pray that He reveal where He is already working in our lives.

This isn't to say that God doesn't or won't give us to-do lists.  I'm not suggesting that God doesn't give us specific tasks and ask us to follow Him to go accomplish what He has set out to do.  That's the first part of Jesus' promise here, "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me."  Many times we miss the second part though, and I believe that is what the Blackabys were trying to point out.  "where I am, there My servant will be also."  So it's not just about being specifically sent out by God.  Every single day we wake up and put our feet to the ground, God is sending us out.  When we don't have something specific from Him it doesn't mean we get the day off from being a Christian.

God is going to use YOU!  That is what this promise is all about.  God wants you to follow Him.  Jesus is asking you to be where He is.  If He's not telling you to go somewhere, then ask Him where He is currently working in your life.  There may be a co-worker whose heart He has been "tenderizing" to receive the Gospel.  If you're waiting for Jesus to lead you somewhere else, you'll miss the fact that He's working right in front of you.

So focus on serving Jesus this week.  Listen to Him.  If He tells you to follow Him somewhere, then go!  MOVE!  If He tells you to sit still and rest in Him, then stay!  DON'T MOVE!  If He doesn't tell you to move or stay, then ask Him where He is currently moving in your life.  Ask Him to show you where He is and get there.

When you do, He promises that His Father, our Father, will honor us!  It doesn't get better than that!  Ok, enough reading...get moving!

Week 12: Matthew 18:19-20

"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."

Matthew 18:19-20

 

 

Greeting everyone!  I hope everyone had a blessed time moving on the promise from Psalm 73 last week and that those of you who chose to fast drew closer to the Lord through that.  I have a feeling this won't be the last opportunity we have to fast through our promises to move on, so if you didn't have a chance to fast...don't worry...your time will come!

 

For this week we will be moving on a promise Jesus gave us in Matthew 18:19-20.  Thanks go out to Amanda Valantine for suggesting this verse.  If any of you have suggestions for promises to move on please let me know.  It is such a blessing to me to have others get involved!

 

For the promise this week I'm going to ask you to get out of your bubble and reach out to someone else.  All of the promises up to this point have been pretty singular, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the Bible calls us, very clearly, to be part of a body.  This means not doing things on our own.  I'm going to push it even a little further.

 

I am sure that some of the people reading this are involved in church and that is fantastic.  I don't think you are a lost soul if you don't attend church.  The Bible doesn't say anywhere that you have to attend church service once a week to earn eternal glory.  I do think it is incredibly beneficial to get plugged in to a body of fellow believers.  It's like working out.  I have always been more disciplined when I have a friend working out with me to push me and keep me going.  On the days I would rather sit on the couch and watch TV, having a friend to keep me accountable keeps me off the couch and on the treadmill (or bench, squat rack, bike trail, etc.).

 

So that is the promise this week.  Jesus promises us that when two of us agree on anything, it will be done by God!  That's as good as gold!  Where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, Jesus promises that He will be there with us.  What more could you ask for?!

 

For this week find one or two people at least to join with you in prayer.  I know that we all have incredibly busy schedules, so it may not be possible to physically get together with these people every day, but get in contact somehow and agree in prayer.  Praying together is such a powerful tool that is not utilized nearly enough! 

 

I'm going to take it even further though and "highly suggest" (this is like when your mother "highly suggests" you clean your room) that you involve someone you don't normally turn to.  My wife and I pray together all the time.  I absolutely love it!  But I'm suggesting - and am also going to participate - incorporating people I normally don't share my prayer requests with.  This whole promises thing isn't about reaffirming what we already "do right" - it's about pushing ourselves to go deeper.  So if our promise is on joining others in prayer, I'm not going to sit here and say, "Well, I pray with my wife...so check that one off the list."  I am going to push myself to go deeper.

 

So find a new prayer buddy, or a couple!  Talk about your requests to God, get in agreement (I should mention that this is a great time to make sure your motives are Spirit led...so don't just agree on everything, but challenge each other) and pray!  Then after all of that, know without a doubt that Jesus is there with you and that your prayers are answered!  God promised!

 

Have a blessed week moving on His promise!



Week 11: Psalm 73

"Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you."

Psalm 73:25

Hey everybody!  This week we will move on Psalm 73.  It's a little different than most of the other promises that we have moved on thus far, so let me explain how I see this going.

The beginning of Psalm 73 is a little depressing.  It talks about the universal truth in life that "nice guys finish last".  I'm paraphrasing...that quote isn't from the Bible (the Christian one anyway).  Verses 1-15 talk about how those who are wicked always seem to be getting the best life has to offer, while those who do their best to live righteously fall flat on their face.  The author sums it up in verse 16, "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me".  That seems to be a common theme when we try to understand the happenings of this broken world. 

The author gives us some great insight on what we should do when we start feeling this way though, "till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny."  When we enter into the presence of God it changes our perspective on everything.  We go from looking at things from a material, worldly, limited view, to an eternal perspective.  Upset about how "unfair" life is?  Enter the sanctuary of God (and by sanctuary I mean anywhere His presence dwells, could be church, your living room, the city park) and see if it doesn't change your mind about the very concept of "fair".

But I digress...there are many promises in this chapter:

1. God is always with us (Verse 23)
2. God holds us in his right hand (23)
3. God guides us with His counsel (24)
4. God takes us into His glory (24)
5. Where flesh and heart fail, God is our strength and portion forever (26)

Verse 28 ends the Psalm and says, "But as for me, it is good to be near God.  I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds."  I really like this verse/promise because I have really been praying a lot, asking the Lord for more boldness to share my testimony with those around me.  Being near God and making Him our refuge makes it easy for us to share our testimony and His deeds with those we come in contact with.

The key to the promise stands in verse 25 though.  "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you."  What do you desire on earth besides the Lord?  God brought this down on me like a hammer when I was praying about which promise to move on this week.  God lays all of these promises down at our feet - ours for the taking - but we cannot collect on them if our priorities aren't right.  It makes sense too.  Until I can honestly say, "Lord, earth has nothing I desire besides you." why would He give me more "things" to get in the way...more "things" for me to put before Him.

Jana and I have been talking about fasting to draw deeper into God.  I think this is the perfect opportunity for us to do this, and I ask that you prayerfully consider joining us.

DISCLAIMER:  I say prayerfully consider because you absolutely, 100% have to pray about this before you do it!  Jana and I have prayed about it and the Lord wants us to do this.  If the Lord does not want you to do this, you won't get anything out of it.  I have fasted without God and can tell you it's worthless...it just leaves you hungry and no fun to be around.  There is no shame in not doing this with us if you don't feel led to, just cling to the promises we have mentioned and make God all that you desire.

Jana and I have decided that we are going to do a technology fast, specifically our smart phones.  We have gotten way too comfortable spending too much time checking Twitter, Facebook, playing games, checking the weather, scores of sporting events, our e-mail...whatever else these amazing things can do now.  This alone isn't a problem...I see my smart phone and all this technology as one of the best ways I can spread the Word of God, but when some of these things start getting in the way of our quiet time with God, we have a problem.

There have been mornings that I have skipped my prayer time with God to write this blog.  Unacceptable.  There have been mornings I have thought, I'll check Facebook to see if any of my friends need prayer...and we all know how that ends.  Unacceptable.  It doesn't matter what it is, if there is anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God, it must be put in check.  This fast is a great way to set your priorities right.  Even if there are things that haven't elevated themselves in priority above God, but they are just getting too close for comfort, get them in check before they become a problem.

So ask God what He would have you do.  If He wants you to fast technology, do it!  Maybe He wants you to go traditional and fast food (not McDonalds and Burger King, but fast from food), maybe not even for a whole day or the whole week, but perhaps He wants you to fast through lunches this week, or fast on Tuesday and Thursday.  Maybe He wants you to start a month long fast or maybe He doesn't want you to fast at all.  You have to ask Him what He wants.

Then whatever He tells you, obey, move on it and watch the promises come to life!

Week 10: Psalm 77:12(7-20)

Hey gang!  This week we are going to be moving on Psalm 77; sticking with the meditation theme for one more week.  The entire Psalm is outstanding, but verse 12 is the verse that has to do with meditation.

Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah. Then I said, "It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed." I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows flashed here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints may not be known. You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
(Psalms 77:7-20)

Kind of a cool little personal story behind this verse:  A few weeks ago, we had a meeting with some of the friends joining us on these promises and decided to move on Joshua 1:8-9, then Psalm 119, then Psalm 77:12.  That was the order that I had presented them to the group, so that was the order we decided to move on them.

Then on February 25, while we were moving on Joshua 1:8-9, the Lord gave me the verse from Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me?"  I really felt like God was telling me that something big was going to happen - maybe not even to me, but to someone moving on these promises.

It was a good kick in the pants to stop "praying like a sissy" and start trusting in the Lord to deliver!  I mean, come on!  He's God...NOTHING is too difficult for Him!  So for the rest of that week and into the next week meditating on Psalm 119, Jana and I pressed in and prayed hard.  We asked for the impossible.

And to date...nothing has happened.  In fact, last week I had a particularly bad week.  There have been "mountains" in my life that I have been praying to move and they all seemed to come crashing down on me last Wednesday.  I actually made the comment to Jana, "I know what David meant when he said, 'My eyes fail with longing for Your word, while I say, "When will You comfort me?"'  I have been looking for God's answer to this prayer for so long, I just physically don't know that I can look for it anymore."

"Ummm...Jeremy," you're probably thinking, "not the kind of thing you want to post to get people to join your group."  I know, it doesn't exactly inspire does it?  But that's because the story isn't finished!

I have to be honest, we chose these verses to move on because they all had to do with meditation.  I really didn't study all of them in depth before I picked them.  I read through the verses, but generally I don't read the context of the verses until a few days before we move on them...primarily so I can write this blog.

God knows His word though (duh!), and I believe that He laid out this plan and my circumstances perfectly for this exact moment.  Reaching a point of brokenness is no fun, but it can also be the most beautiful thing in the world.  When you reach the point when you can't solve the problem on your own, when you have exhausted all avenues and there is only one road left to take - total and utter dependence on God - that is when things can finally start to move.  You can't give up though.  You have to press in, even when your eyes fail looking for God to come to the rescue.

That's why I love Psalm 77 so much, and that's why I love that God designed it to come this week; the perfect time for me (and hopefully you as well).  Psalm 77 is all about pressing in.  The writer is filled with the same questions I have been asking this past week:

"Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"

But look at what the author does when these questions threaten to destroy his faith.  When doubt begins to attack and strangle out the hope that is ours. 

Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

 The same is true today.  We serve the same God who parted the sea for Moses and Aaron.  The same God who brought down the walls of Jericho.  The same God who slew Goliath.  I don't know if we don't believe those stories, or if we just don't believe that they happen anymore, but we serve that same GOD! 

I don't know that you'll be in a situation where you literally need a sea parted so you can walk through it, but I know that God can do it.  I don't know that you or I will literally need to break down the walls of a fortified city or kill a giant threatening our nation, but I know that God can still do it!

It doesn't matter what you need as long as you know who you need.  When fear and doubt start to creep in and replace peace and hope, meditate on God's past works and mighty deeds.  He is the same God!  He hasn't gotten weak in His old age...in fact, He doesn't age!

So press in!  Remember God's miracles of long ago, meditate on them, and apply them to your life!  When you reach the point when your eyes fail looking for God's promise, remembering His faithfulness in the past will fuel your hope and give you the faith to push on.

"not one word has failed of all His good promise..."
1 Kings 8:56
 

Week 7:Psalm 25:9

"He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way."

Psalm 25:9

 

Happy Monday everyone!  We are going to stick with the humility promise for one more week with Psalm 25:9.  I really like this promise.  I think that too many times, we Christians don't realize all that we have in the death and resurrection of Christ.  Romans 8:11 says, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."  Hillsong sings a song called "You Are Here (The Same Power)" that sums it up with this line: "The same power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me."

 

This promise is one that gets overlooked too often.  Christianity isn't easy.  There are hard teachings and moral questions that tend to fall in "grey areas" for some people.  The different answers to these questions are what have led to all of the different denominations that we have today.  How should we be baptized?  How should we take communion?  How should we worship?  These are just a few of the surface questions that have caused separation in the body of Christ.  So who has the right answers?

 

Loaded question...I know.  Jesus Christ has the right answers.  He has all of the right answers.  He has the only right answers.  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  In a world that is slowly trying to get rid of the concept of universal truth, trying to convince us all that "truth" is a matter of personal opinion or preference, there is still a voice of reason.  It is the same voice that spoke all of us into being, and He is still speaking.

 

That's what makes this promise so alluring.  Those who humble themselves before the Lord will be taught His way.  God Almighty Himself will teach us what is right if we will humble ourselves before Him and acknowledge that His way is indeed the right way - the only way.  That's all we have to do and He will teach us.  John 14:26 tells us, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."  I can promise you're not going to get any better education than that!

 

I want to add a little challenge to the end of this.  We started a group on Facebook for this little challenge and I shared this challenge with them last week.  I share it with you now because it ties in perfectly with Psalm 25.  In verse 12 this theme of being taught is extended, "Who is the man who fears the Lord?  He will instruct him in the way he should choose."

 

I set out last week to learn how to fear the Lord.  Job 13:11 says, "Will not His majesty terrify you, and the dread of Him fall on you?"  I realized that I had never been terrified in God's presence.  Tenth Avenue North has a song called "Hallelujah" that opens with this line, "At first I was afraid, but not because of fear.  But the Holy of Holies was drawing me near."  I wanted that.  It sounds like a crazy thing to want, doesn't it?  I want to be terrified.  That's how deep I wanted to be in God's presence though.

 

And He did it for me.  I was painfully aware of how great He is and how I am not.  The combination of all that God is plus all that I am not creates an atmosphere of complete awe.  It creates the perfect environment for humility and even terror.  I am going to ask the Lord to do it again this week.  I would challenge you to try it too.  Hit your knees and invite the Lord to humble you, even to the point of terror.  Then move on His promise that He will reveal His way to you.

 

What are you waiting for?  Get MOVING!

Week 5: 1 Peter 5:6-7

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7

Wow!  What a promise!  We humble ourselves before the Lord and He exalts us!?!  Seems a little backwards doesn’t it?  What exactly do we mean by exalted.  Webster’s Dictionary defines exalt as, “to raise in rank, power or character.” and “to elevate by praise or in estimation : Glorify”  Are you getting how ridiculous this idea is?  And as if that isn’t enough, we also have the promise that we can cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us!

The Lord of all creation.  The Creator of the heavens and the earth. I AM!  Everything that God was and is and is to come is going to exalt us!  Everything that God is and He cares about our anxiety and worries.  It should be the other way around!  We should be the ones exalting Him.  That’s not the promise though.

So what does it mean to humble ourselves before God?  It’s all about your heart.  We have to come to the realization that He is God and we are not.  I like this promise in 1 Peter because it says that God will exalt us “at the proper time”.  I think this is a huge part of being humble before God, realizing that He has everything under control, including the time line of things.  Being humble before God isn’t worrying about how we are going to get our schedules to work or why we aren’t being healed or delivered from something on our time table, but instead giving it all to God because He is worthy of having it all.

Humble is the opposite of proud.  It’s giving everything we have to God – our money, our talents, our relationships – and knowing that He can do it all better than we ever could.  It’s laying all of our trophies down at the feet of Jesus and no longer striving for human accolades, but only for the love of the Father.

Yesterday in church, our worship pastor, Pastor Amanda, talked about why we lift our hands during worship service.  She talked about how it is an outward showing of what is going on inside of our hearts.  The same happens for me when I am humbling myself before God.  I like to get on my knees to pray; not because it’s comfortable…it’s not…and not because God hears me better from that position, but because it is an outward showing of what’s going on in my heart.  There are even times when I become so humbled by God that my knees aren’t low enough and I find myself flat on my face, practically trying to dig a hole in the floor to get low enough before the Almighty.

You don’t have to do those things.  It can be a very good place to start for no other reason than to allow your body to mirror your heart.  Humbling ourselves before God isn’t an act though, it’s a way of life.  Just like abiding in Christ.  And just like the abiding we did last month, I am looking forward to humbling myself under God’s mighty hand until it becomes so natural that I am constantly living in a state of humility before God.

Have a great week MOVING!

Week 4: John 15:7

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

John 15:7

 

We wanted to wrap up our first week of moving on God's promises with one final abiding promise.  The first month has been all about abiding in Christ, and I know for me personally, it has been something that I am going to continue whether we're focusing on that promise or not!  John 15 is actually a great place to go to for a better understanding on exactly what it means to abide. Jake actually brought up this passage of scripture during week one when we first started talking about abiding in Christ.  It is only fitting that we come full circle.

This is a scary promise to move on, but this is exactly the kind of promise that I was tired of standing on. I feel like people love to believe in this passage, believe that God always hears and answers our prayers, but they also love to give God an escape route. "Yes," too many people say, "I 100% believe that God will answer this prayer...but if He doesn't it's just because He has something bigger." or "His answer is no." and the excuses go on and on.

I don't believe that is the case though. The Creator of the Universe doesn't need a way out of our prayers! We don't need to give Him an exit strategy. The danger in giving excuses to God as to why He may or may not answer our prayers is that we start to think that way. Instead of trusting Him 100% we end up trusting Him 90%, then that turns to 80%, then 70 and so on. I am done insulting the Lord with that kind of thinking! What promise does the Bible say He has ever broken? NONE OF THEM! So why are you going to put anything less than 100% trust in Him? I'm done doing it!

There is a very thin line that must be carefully walked here though.  This is not a prosperity gospel that we are believing in.  Yes, I believe that God wants to, and does, bless the sock off of those who follow Him.  Far too many people attribute this to only financial or worldly blessings.  "Well, John 15 says I get whatever I ask for in the name of Jesus...so I'd like a Ferrari, two summer homes in the Caribbean, and sixteen million dollars."  I don't think that's how it works.

The key to this, as has been the key to all of the promises we have moved on this month, is ABIDING.  Take week one for example:  we had to walk a dangerous line in keeping that promise.  If we stopped focusing on abiding in Christ, and turned our attention instead to the outcome of abiding, that we cannot and would not sin, then it is no longer Christ that we are following, but a horrible form of legalism - following rules to get closer to God.  The same goes with this promise.  The goal is abiding in Jesus Christ through all things.  Staying connected to the True Vine spoken of in John 15.  Realizing that Jesus is correct when He says in verse 5, "apart from me you can do nothing."  The outcome of the promise, that God will give us everything we ask for CANNOT EVER become the focus.  That would make God to be our servant; just a little footman at our beck and call. 

I believe that when we abide in Jesus Christ - when we let the Holy Spirit invade our lives and take over everything, that Jesus Christ answers 100% of our prayers.  Why would He say it if He didn't.  Yes, sometimes the answer is no.  Yes, sometimes He has something bigger.  When we are plugged in to the True Vine though, He reveals His plan to us.  Jesus Christ tells us in verse 15 that He no longer calls His disciples servants, but friends, because He is revealing to us His Father's business.

We can have 100% confidence that God will answer every single prayer we ask of Him, without any hesitation or need of a way out, because as we abide in Him, He will make His will known to us.  Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me."  The Lord gave Paul a "no" answer, but He also let Him know why.

When we abide in Christ, we walk every moment of our lives in the Father's will, we speak every word in the Father's will, we pray every prayer in the Father's will.  Those are the prayers that are answered.

So pray BIG this week!  Pray the boldest prayers you have ever prayed!  But make sure that you are abiding in Christ when you do it.  When we ask for things that are in the will of the Father, they are always answered!  There is no "better plan" than His plan.

It's your turn now!  MOVE!

Week 3: Psalm 91:13-16

You will tread upon the lion and cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.

“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

“With a long life I will satisfy him

And let him see My salvation.”

Psalm 91: 13-16

Happy Monday, everyone! This blog is coming from someone other than Jeremy this week. Jeremy asked me, Jake, to write up the blog this week and so I gladly took up the offer. It's been a joy walking with Jeremy and his wife Jana, as well as my fiance Liz over the past couple weeks as we move on the promises of God. God has shown His faithfulness in many ways including the healing of Jana from strep throat this week as she and Jeremy stood on Psalm 91:9-10 which speaks of no harm or plague befalling on those who make the Lord their dwelling place. Praise God for being faithful and true to His word!

This week the focus is on the end of Psalm 91 which comes with many promises for us to move on. In verse 13 we see how the Lord has given us authority over the lion and the serpent. Both the lion and serpent are authoritative, fearless animals who control the territories in which they dwell. I believe the Lord is telling us here that we can take confidence in the authority He has given us over things in our life that seem insurmountable. Whatever the "lion" or "serpent" is in your life that seems to be controlling your territory has nothing on us who have received all authority by the blood of Jesus!

Beyond that, I take joy in reading the final three verses of the chapter which speak of the promises given to us as we call upon the Lord and love Him. God does not speak words that are not true. Every word spoken by the Lord is truth for He Himself is Truth. With this knowledge we can claim these promises as given to us. These are the promises, listed out, that we are joyfully and violently claiming this week.

Because we love Him, know His name, and call upon Him, He will...

• Deliver us
• Set us securely on high 
• Answer us
• Be with us in trouble
• Rescue us
• Honor us
• Satisfy us with a long life
• Let us see His salvation

Praise God for His word of truth and for the many promises we have in Him. I pray that we all would experience these promises in a greater measure as we go about our week. I claim these upon us as we move forward in Him. His word does not return void but bears great fruit. Have a blessed week in Jesus!

Week 2: Psalm 91:9-10

"If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."

Psalm 91:9-10

 

Sorry everybody, I am a day late with this one.  I know you all have been sitting at home so ready to move on our promise for this week and are going to have to start a day late now because of me!  I suppose, like I said last week, it's better late than never.  And on that note, if you haven't yet, please join us!  God did some incredible things in our lives last week as we moved on the promise from 1 John 3:6. 

 

If you joined us, please let us know how your week went - we would love to hear how God moved in your life. 

 

If you are planning on joining us for this week, please let us know - we would love to pray for and with you while we move together on trusting our Lord and Savior!

 

Now on to the good stuff:

 

As much as this pains me to say as a Cleveland Browns fan, our promise to move on this week comes from Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis.  Following their victory last Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts he was sporting a shirt that had Psalm 91 written on it.  Jake decided to look up Psalm 91 (I am far too stubborn a Browns fan to look up a verse on a Ravens player).  Thank the Lord someone doing this experiment isn't an idiot when it comes to sports. 

 

As it turns out, Psalm 91 ties directly into the promise we moved on last week from John 3:6, in which we focused on abiding in Christ in order to eliminate sin from our lives.  So when Psalm 91:9-10 talks about making the Lord our refuge and dwelling place, it kind of caught Jake's attention.  He shared the verse with Jana, Liz and I and we all agreed that this would be a great promise to move on for this week.

 

In Psalm 91:9-10 the outcome changes a little though.  We are still focusing on abiding in the Lord.  We are making Jesus Christ our refuge, the place we run to when we are in need - of anything! - we are making Him our dwelling place.  Just like you dwell in your house or apartment or tent or cave.  When you are dwelling in it, you are surrounded by it, protected by it, it completely covers you.  That is what we have been focusing on in these past two weeks.

 

The change in this promise comes in the outcome.  Where as abiding in Christ eliminated sin from our lives last week, this week abiding eliminates evil and plagues from our lives.  Now while I can't say that I am incredibly worried about plagues befalling my house, I would be more than happy to see sickness eliminated from my home.  And that is what we are counting on!

 

The rest of Psalm 91 continues to lay out the protection, deliverance and long life that come to those who make the Lord their dwelling and refuge.  I would highly suggest you read the entire Psalm.  I would also highly suggest that you join us in moving on that promise.  Cling to Him!  Cling to Him so tightly that He becomes absolutely everything - even the air that you breathe.  We learned from experience last week that abiding in Christ can eliminate sin from our lives.  This week I fully expect to see how abiding in Him also eliminates evil, sickness, danger and fear.

 

Just to make sure that this experiment is fully put to the test, Jana decided to come down with strep and I have developed a pretty nasty chest and sinus cold.  If there is anything last week taught us, and the Bible continually teaches us, it is that God's promises are faithful and true!  Give it a try...He won't let you down!

 

MOVE!

Abiding In Christ

So the first week is almost in the books.  It happened just like I hoped it would too!  I had such a great week MOVING on the promise of abiding in Christ and that resulting in the complete absence of sin in my life.  It wasn't just that though.  His promise was true (if you had any questions about this, I'll spoil it for you: they always are!) and I did not sin at all while I was abiding in Him.  The few slip ups that I had were all times when I was not abiding very well.

Along with not sinning though, I also found myself in such a better mood overall.  I was slow to get frustrated at work and even while driving...GASP(I tend to be a little impatient while behind the wheel)!  I had a smile on my face a good majority of the day, I was a better father and husband, I was even a better coworker.  I could feel God's love with me the entire time I was abiding in Him, and I was therefore able to love those around me...even those I am normally not particularly fond of.

Now some of you may wonder how one abides in Christ, or gets started doing it anyway.  As I wrote in my post that described what we were going to be doing this week, abiding in Christ is simply being IN Him every single part of the day.  Like one abides in their house or state or country, you remain in Him in everything you do.  This is not as easy as it sounds and it takes a lot of getting used to.  I found myself getting better and better at it as the week went along.  I happened to have a fairly easy time getting started on it because I worked by myself for the majority of the first part of the week.

Now this was the approach that I took in abiding in Christ - it's not the only way, it's not the right way, it's just the way that I did it.  I am sure that for those who are used to abiding in Christ it probably comes very naturally.  I am hoping that this little experiment leads to that...in fact, I know that it will.  Since I am not to that point yet though, I had to continuously remind myself to abide in the Lord.  I did this by quite literally praying and worshiping the Lord all day long. 

As I said, I worked alone most days, so I was able to pray and sing out loud.  This made it very easy to abide in the Lord.  Being constantly reminded of His presence, constantly offering up praises to Him, which in turn, reminds me exactly who He is, makes it very easy to be in a good mood.  Forget Arby's, my good mood food is the Bread of Life (sorry, that was a little cheesy...but seriously, they should make Christian shirts with that)!  Even when I was working with people though, I still got into the habit of praying silently or humming or whistling worship songs.

For anyone wanting a little boost in their walk with Jesus, I would definitely suggest giving this abiding in Him a try.  Even if you set out to only do it for a week, I think...no...I know you will find it too awesome to stop.  This is something that I am going to continue for the rest of my life.  When I first started this experiment I had a feeling that this is how these weekly promises would turn out.  I imagine this is similar to what David was talking about in Psalm 34:8 when he said, "Taste and see that the Lord is good..."

All it takes is a taste of the Lord to find out exactly what He has to offer.  It doesn't say to take a bite and then keep going even though the first bite isn't very good...eventually you acquire a taste for it.  Once you experience a little bit of the Lord, you know it's all good!

That is exactly what this first week has been: a taste of what is to come if we take God at His Word.  If we move on the promises He gives us, we will find so much more than what we are expecting.  I started this week expecting to eliminate sin from my life while I took God at His Word and started abiding in Him.  I got so much more though.  I got an entire life makeover.  He turned my world upside down, showed me how to love, showed me how serve, showed me how to LIVE!  To be honest, I don't want to remember what it's like to live outside of abiding in Him.

So now it's your turn.  Give it a try!  I promise you'll like what you find!

MOVE!